Electric devices, in particular electric cars or other electric vehicles, suffer from the long charging time of their batteries. Long charging time leads to the necessity for the car, or vehicle, to be immobilized while the battery is being charged, or for the often voluminous battery or battery assembly to be replaced. Replacement of the battery implies that the voluminous battery is extracted from the car at a charging station and placed for charging while a readily charged battery is inserted into the car.
The latter solution implies compatibility of battery formats between cars, large storage spaces for charged batteries and fast replacement process for replacing a battery.
The battery replacement time in the best current solutions is approximately 2 minutes, which is probably acceptable for the drivers. However, with an average of 1000 visits to a gas station per day, a corresponding number of batteries need to be stored at the gas station, either charging or ready to be inserted into a car. With an average size of 1.2×1×0.6 meters per battery or battery assembly, the necessary storage space implies a significant infrastructure investment and a significant change in the conception of the gas station itself.
Aims of the present invention thus comprise providing an electric car battery assembly that allows recharging the battery of a car in an acceptable time frame, for example in less than two minutes, that is compatible with any car make or model, that requires a minimal recharging facility infrastructure, that does not require fundamentally changing the organization of existing gas stations, and that may provide for some more advantages as “side products”.